PS 3537 
.T475 A5 



1900 











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AND THE STARS SAW 



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AND THE STARS SAW 

Written by 

THOMAS WOOD STEVENS 
& ALDEN CHARLES NOBLE 

Pictufingfs by 
IVAN SWIFT 




^ THE BLUE SKY PRESS ^ 
^900 



office of tli« 

MAY 1 ^ \m 

C o p^T right 
Lang worthy, Sterens & Co. 
Chicago 
5 « 

MCONO OOf Y, 



58693 



THE POEMS 



THE PONIARD OF DAY 

AS HAPPENS FOR THE FAIL- 
URE OF SATISFACTION 

THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS 
TPiE DOOR FROM EITHER 

SIDE 

THE LOSER 

GALLOWS 

ILLUSIONARY 

TWIN 

REWARD 

WINDSWEPT 

WHO WEDS GOLD 

OF THE OPTIMIST AND THE 
SMILE OF THE SKULL 

FRAILTY 

FOG 



Of this book there have been 333 
copies printed, of which this is num- 



FOREWORD 

We thank you, Stephen Crane, 
for this strangfe and subtle medium* 
As to the things we have written 
therein, they are ours; wc hare 
thought them out between us. 

T.W.S. 

A. C. R 



THE PONIARD OF DAY 

IN dim dusk of dawn 
A knigfht rode a gray far plain. 
His blood leaped for cool lone- 
somcncss; 
He cried a wild vacant cry t 
"Oh plain, give company* 
'^Bear me warriors to crashing battle 

here, 
'^Myself shall break them, 
"By the Lance of the Dark, broken 
"Shall they be. 
"And by my hand/' 
The spreading plain cried answer 
Echoless, so shrill he scarce heard. 
On all hands* 

"By the grim Lance of the Dark 
"We shall conquer 
"And the hot Poniard of Day shall 

make end/' 
So the knight rode. 
Shouting* 



Day^ and a molten white sun* 

The gray plain shimmering: white* 

The knigfht rode 

Groaning in his mail of despair* 

He shook himself and shouted 

^'Oh plain, give company, 

^*Let silent dark battle be; 

''^I will break thy champions, 

**l will break thee, oh plain/' 

And the trembling plain cried. 

Roaring hot. 

''The hot Poniard of Day shall 

make end* 
''Be silent*'' 

The knight's voice sank* 
Failed into the hollow breast of his 

mail* 



Night, and the g:? ay plain cticd 
Ever ywhcte exulting: to the leering: 

stars* 
And the stars saw. 
The knig:ht was still. 



AS HAPPENS FOR THE FAIL- 
URE OF SATISFACTION 

A poor man was 
Once in the everlasting earth, 
A silly starved man^ 
A thin greedf ul man. 
"Oh world/' said the man, 
'*Give me bread or I die V^ 
And the whimpering world gave 

bread* 
^'Stupid/' grumbled the man, 
"Where's the marmalade?'' 



THE KEY WHICH UNLOCKS 
THE DOOR FROM EITHER 
SIDE 

THIS is the key, 
This thing: of steel, uncom- 
promising:. 
Under her breast, driven hard 
It may bring: me reveng:e and white 

honor — 
And nig:ht-coldt dark, starting: 
Remorse* 



If I thrust it still harder between my 

breathing ribs 
And twist it, work it about 
For free blood flow, And quick end, 
It may bring rast sleep ; 
Or any one of many things whereof 

all men preach 
Differently, 
And each believes the preaching of 

another. 
It is the key. 



THE LOSER 

A MAN was working: 
'*Do not that;' said I, 
"Come and be met r y/' 
**You are a Fool/' he said 
And he worked. 
Examinations came. 
I passed. The man flunked. 
^'You cribbed/ said the man. 



GALLOWS 

IN this dread engine of the witch- 
ery of Death 
I sec the tumult between dream 
and dream. 

I basked in the Friendship of God; 

Ignored, knowing well my Friend; 

I had strength 

And for the hate of an enemy. 

Ah, 

Between dream and dream 

I must feel a stiff cold rough noose 

tight on my throat. 
A fuzzy hemp noose. 

I am cut dead in the highway, 

To seek another Friend, 

Having lost the Friendship of God. 



ILLUSIONARY 

A BROWN eye 
Is only a little ring: 
Centered of wee transparent 
black 
On a white small gflobe 
With lashes* 
And the lashes should be long; and 

curved* 
Restless and lifesome, 
Because of the muscles that move it^ 
It can do nothing; 
Nothing: 

Save what the nerve countenances* 
It has no power* 

But some brown eyes — 
When I look into their pupils — 
I for g:et all the thingfs* 



TWIN 

DUAL is my Soul, 
(If there be any such un- 
proved thing) 
Of two, similar yet not alike; 
One, a sympathetic cynic 
Careless, heedful, irrelevant; 
And the other a melancholy opti- 
mist 
Spendthrift, selfish, worshipful. 
And both dream and are lazy. 
If I have a Soul. 



REWARD 

A DOG Is Love embodied; 
Liquid speaking: Love. 
Encased in various hair; 
Upon four legs. 

Love asking nothing of return, 
Love that puts life a toy 
For tyrant master. 
Love that thrives on curses, kickings. 

The rattle of a tin can 
Tied to the tail of Love 
Is a pleasing sound. 



WINDSWEPT 

ALONG the streets 
The winter whinnying: wind 
Howls. 
And the chilled people. 
The helpless hurrying people, 
Turn up their collars 
In vain endeavor to keep the snow 
Out of their necks. 
Vain endeavor* 
The hackmen shout harshly 
To their strugfgfling, straining horses, 
And curse in loud howlings 
That mingle with the wind, 
The fretful, whining wind. 



WHO WEDS GOLD 

A GIRL, ttdf black, white. 
Red is a royal bloom* 
Is she the worse 
For an independent §:ratuit7* 
For great surfeit of world's things. 
She is still royal. 
And in her presence, it appears 
I think I love her, 
Sometime I am certain of it. 

You argfuc poorly. 
There are a host of ways 
To be miserable, 
To be wretched. 



OF THE OPTIMIST AND THE 
SMILE OF THE SKULL 

AN optimist, 
A foolish man of firm fixed 
smile, 
Gazed on a sullen dead silent skull — 
Head of Death's past. 

The skull to the man 

Echoed the smile, 

Useless, meaningfless. 

The man, gfay laughing: cried, 

*'Ha! and yet he knows, 

"Knows smilingf/' 

The man lied. 
The skull was a woman's. 
Sardonic on his mirthless grin 
She smiled. 



TT 



P. 



\ 




smasmam 



FRAILTY 

I LOVED a man and he was a 
God, 
I walked with him in silly 
easy ways 
And we came to a Deep Ditch 
Bfown^ slimy, writhing:, 
*^Leap,'' I said 

And he looked long at the Ditch, 
Then leaped he trembling: white. 
He fell in the writhing brown 
And died. 
I wept, for 
Mine was a mortal God. 



FOG 

PUFF-wfcaths of curling gray, 
White against the sable va- 
cantness 
Of night. 

Muffled^ groping a tardy way 

Through cotton fog, 

The chimes come, broke now 

By sound of escaping steam. 

Sides of gray blearing white 

Under uncert shadow wraiths 

Of undreamed canvas* 

The world is a round Universe, 

Of ten foot radius. 

With tangible soft sides, 

Which, broken, merge to other 

Similar Universes* 

Mingle with curling fog-wreath 

Chime of bells. 

In the thick, rough bank 

Of night. 



Rows of blinking, blurred ligfhts, 

Lights flashing at even space. 

Bow to stern* 

On all ways^ ocean, fog. 

Careless laughter, music, unremem- 

brant joy, 
Within. 

Without, above, alone. 
Two eyes glare watchful ever, 
Unbeguiled by merryness below. 
A shape — ahead, on all sides 
White, whiter than gray-white fog. 
^Hard— ^^ 
A cabin passenger shrieks at the 

crash. 

Spiteful the sun rises, 
Orange, spiteful. 
Welcome at first, cheerless 
Then, with blank bare sea. 
Bright is the day, and blue. 
The wind is alone. 



HEREEND- 
cth the lit- 
tle book of 
verses called ^ 
^^AND THE 
STARS SAW; 
no pAf t of which 
was ever printed 
before, ^^/?^ 
It wai written^ 
out, in the firit 
place, by ^^/? 
Thomas Wood 
Stevens and fi 
Aldcn CharlcS/»? 
Noble, ^/l'^^ 
The Pictaringfs 
being: made by/? 
Ivan Swift.^^ 
Printed on the Blue Sky Press, ^ 
which is under the Front Stairs at 
number 5430 Lexingfton Avenue, in 
Chicago, Illinois, by the authors, fi 
Being: the second book by them print- 
ed. Published by Langfworthy, Ste- 
vens & Company, at the same place. 
Completed this thirteenth day 
of February, Anno Do- 
mini Nineteen 
Hundred. 












•1°^ 











WERT 
BOOKBINDING 

Grantville Pa 
:.pi-Oci 196^ 



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018 394 434 4 



